Trip update

The gear is acquired! Sat-phone will be coming tomorrow and new laptop should be coming Monday or Tuesday. GPS receiver is in hand, and my old trusty digital camera is waiting to ship out.
I’ll be getting a ticket to Istanbul next week, perhaps as soon as Wednesday. From there, I’ll meet up with a friend in Ankara and we’ll head to the Syrian border. After that, Iraqi Kurdistan. I hope to be in country by next weekend.
I was hoping for $10,000 at a minimum, but the big dose of funding I was hoping for from a major university has not come through, and I don’t think I can wait anymore. So I’m going to cut the trip a little short (probably two weeks in Iraq as opposed to a month) and go with what I’ve got.Donations are still most welcome, of course! Every little bit helps, and I really, really appreciate everyone’s support. If people want to keep donating, I can still access the funds while in Turkey. After that, however, I’ll be using the cash reserves.
By the time I get there, Iraqi Kurdistan could be Turkish-occupied, a humanitarian disaster or a cheering land of happy Kurds. We’ll see. It’s a hideously complicated place, and it will be a good litmus test for America’s intentions.

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I’ve spent the past few hours seeking out a few good sources of information about this war. I’ve been quite adamantly opposed to it all along, and I would like to remain as informed as possible. There are quite a

I’ve spent the past few hours seeking out a few good sources of information about this war. I’ve been quite adamantly opposed to it all along, and I would like to remain as informed as possible. There are quite a